Viet Nam News
HA NOI — Watercoloured paintings on do (poonah) paper by Vu Thai Binh, are on display in Ha Noi reflecting the peaceful and modest daily life.
The exhibition Sac Do (Colours of Do Paper) opened on Friday in Ha Noi showcasing 30 of his recent paintings.
Binh, 42, is considered as a master of painting on do paper. Instead of small paintings as usual, he often created large paintings (1m-2m long) which requires high technique and skill.
His paintings are memory of his childhood and feelings about the people and the places he visited.
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| Loyal: Doi (Waiting), 60cm by 120cm showing the dog’s faithfulness, said Vu Thai Binh. |
“I tell people memories in the old days, when my parents were often absent from home working, I stay alone with lazy cats, a dog guarding at the door and chickens finding rice on the ground,” he said.
“Some paintings are inspired by ethnic people in the northern province of Ha Giang where life is so hard but I still find beautiful things such as tolerant old women, innocent children and hardworking people,” said Binh.
Over the past few decades, do paper - the rustic gift of Vietnamese countryside - remains an open artistic challenge for artists who search for a breakthrough in Vietnamese contemporary art, said Luong Xuan Doan, vice chairman of the Viet Nam Fine Arts Association.
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| Hello kitty: March, 60cm by 90cm (2018), the painting shows a lazy cat thinking in his own world, without any worry and anxiety. |
“The allure of do is not difficult to discern,” he said.
Do seems to be the only material for Binh to create. It also brings the fame for the painter.
“Do is the familiar material for folk paintings and sketches. But Binh used do to make remarkable artworks,” he added.
“Each painting is a combination of many layers of do paper. His watercolours blur on the thin and soft paper bringing much emotion for the audience.”
The exhibition will run until October 8 at the Viet Nam Fine Arts Museum, 66 Nguyen Thai Hoc Street, Ha Noi. — VNS